Collapsible rigid tent



March 19, 1968 J TRELFA ET AL 3,373,533

COLLAPSIBLE RIGID TENT Filed May 5, 1966 FIG.

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- ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,373,533 COLLAPSIBLE RIGID TENT Gerald J. Trelfa, 14721 Stephens, East Detroit, Mich.v 48236, and Herbert G. Haynie, 24281 Stewart, Warren, Mich. 48089 Filed May 5, 1966, Ser. No. 547,881 1 Claim. (CI. 52-82) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collapsible rigid tent formed of corner pieces and intermediate rectangular panels, and topped by a large area rectangular panel which holds all the parts together.

This invention relates to a collapsible, rigid tent, and more particularly, a tent formed of a number of interconnected stiff panels, which are easily disengageable for collapsing the tent.

Conventional tents are formed of cloth, such as canvas, supported by suitable poles or framework, pegs, ropes and the like. Such tents are unable to support considerable weights, such as the weight of heavy snow; they have a limited resistance against being blown over by the wind; and they are unable to resist damage caused by animals, as well as tend to collapse after being up for some while so that they cannot be left standing, unattended for any prolonged period of time.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to' provide a tent made of stiif or substantially rigid panels interconnected to form the complete tent structure, eliminating the need for a supporting framework, poles and the like, and which tent, when assembled is unusually resistant to the weight of snow and the force of winds, wild animals, such as bears and the like, and which tends to maintain its shape for prolonged periods of time, unaffected by weather changes, etc.

A further object of this invention is to form a tent construction made of thin sheet, stiff or substantially rigid panels, such as of sheet metal, which can be easily and quickly assembled and disassembled manually, and which upon assembly, maintains its strength and shape for prolonged periods of time.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following description, of which the attached drawings form a part.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled tent.

FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, are enlarged cross-sectional views of certain portions of the tent and are taken as if in the direction of arrows 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 respectively.

FIGS. 5 and 6, are enlarged cross-sectional views, taken on arrows 5-5 and 6-6 respectively, showing the door construction in vertical and horizontal crosssection.

FIG. 7 shows the tent parts assembled into a modified form.

Referring to FIG. 1, the tent 10 is formed of a number of panels, namely, triangular shaped corner panels 11, rectangular shaped intermediate panels 12 and a cover panel 13. The corner and intermediate panels together form the walls of the tent and the cover panel forms the roof thereof.

Such panels are formed of thin, stiff or substantially rigid sheet material, such as preferably thin gauge sheet metal as is commonly used in sheet metal duct work. To stiifen the panels, they are provided with bends 14 as is conventional in sheet metal work.

The upright edges of the corner panels 11 and intermediate panels 12 are provided with edge flanges 1'5.

Que edge flange 15 of each panel is formed in the shape of inwardly opening channel 16 while the opposite edge flange is formed as an outwardly bent tongue 17.

The hypotenuses of the corner panels have their respective channels 16a and tongues 17a bent at a 45 angle to the main panel as compared with the flanges 15 on the intermediate panels being arranged normal to same.

The corner panels are assembled in pairs (see FIG. 4) with their hypotenuses adjacent one another and with their hypotenuse edge flanges interlocked by means of inserting the tongue 17a of one of such panels into the channel 16a of the other channel, the tongue remaining in place because of the tight frictional fit therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 1, an intermediate panel 12 is then secured to the altitude edge flanges of two opposite pairs of corner panels and by repeating this the two end walls of the tent are formed. Thereafter, a pair of intermediate panels are interconnected together, edge to edge by interlocking their flanges and the pair is then connected to the respectively opposite corner panels to complete first one set, and then the opposite set of side walls.

Once all the panels are interlocked, they may be mechanically secured together more positively, by the use of mechanical fasteners 19, such as machine screws and nuts or the like, with at least one fastener per set of interlocking flanges. These may be rapidly inserted and manually secured.

With the walls of the tent formed, the panels slope inwardly from bottom to top, leaving at their upper edges a rectangular shaped opening, which is covered by the cover panel 13. The cover panel is formed with a continuous downwardly opening edge flange 20 bent along its four edges so that it slips over and covers the upper edges of the various panels and particularly rests upon the bent over upper edges 12a of panels 12. Again, for positive securement, mechanical fasteners 19 may be used (see FIG. 2).

As can be seen, the intermediate panels 12 are all identical in construction and the corner panels are all identical, except that in each pair, the location of the channel and the tongue is reversed.

For access to the tent, one of the intermediate panels is provided with a doorway opening 21 (see FIG. 5) which is framed with a sill piece 22 having an upwardly extending sill flange 23 inside the tent. Above the opening is a lintel piece 24 which acts as a weather guard or cover. Side jambs are provided by a pair of side edge panel strips 25 (see FIG. 6).

The door 26 is formed of a thin sheet which is provided with side edge flanges 27 arranged to fit within the jamb channels 25 and a bottom channel 28 which fits over the sill flange 23. Suitable handles 36 are secured to the outside and inside of the door.

The door is arranged, in this case, to be completely removed from the panel, when desired. To accomplish this, it is raised upwardly until its bottom channel 28 is released from the sill flange 23 and thereafter its bottom edge is tipped outwardly and the door is then lowered downwardly and outwardly to clear the lintel piece 24, thus completely removing the door. Other forms of door construction and assembly to the door holding panel may be provided, but the above is preferable where a complete weather tight structure is desired.

The completed tent may be easily and rapidly assembled by one or two men, and once assembled, not only will maintain its shape indefinitely, but is particularly resistant to heavy loads of both snow and wind. For example, the structure will easily support one or two men sitting upon the cover panel 13. Loads are transmitted downwardly through the angled panels which are capable of supporting and absorbing the loads in that direction and are stiffened an d rigidified in that direction by their v edge flanges.

To better support the tent, the lower edges of the panels may be provided with horizontal flanges 31 (see FIG. whose free ends are reversely bent into stiffening beads 32.

For disassembly, the mechanical fasteners may be quickly removed, such as by means of a screwdriver and thereafter the panels simply pulled apart, one by one, and placed upon a stack where they may be easily transported either within a motor vehicle, such as a station wagon or truck, or even tied upon the top of an automobile, since the entire stack is relatively small due to the flatness of the panels.

FIG. 7 shows a modified form of assembly wherein the corner panels 11, at the ends are connected directly to each other, thus omitting panels 12 at the ends. Here the upper edges of the panels abut, and thus, the cover panel 13 is omitted and a channel strip 33 covers the upper edges of the panels. It can also be seen that additional panels 12 may be used to lengthen the tent of FIG. 7 as well as that of FIG. 1.

Summary A preassembly of parts 11-12 is set up, relying on the interlocks at 16-17 to hold the parts in preassembly. The final assembly is effected by using top panel 13. This large area rectangular panel 13, whose edge flanges 20 overlap and are secured to the intermediate panels 12 maintains and establishes the rigid assembly, with the interlocks at 16-17 assisting to such end.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following claim. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoing description be read as being merely illustrative of an operative embodiment of this invention, and notin a strictly limited sense.

i We claim:

1. A collapsible, rigid tent, comprising: four corner portions, each formed of a pair of substantially identical, large, flat, stiff, thin sheet corner panels shaped as vertically elongated right angle triangles, with edge flanges formed on the upright edges of each such triangle; at least one vertically elongated, rectangular shaped, stilt, thin sheet intermediate panel, of the same height as said corner panels, arranged between each pair of corner panels, with said intermediate panels being formed with edge flanges on their upright edges; one edge flange of each panel being formed as an outwardly projecting male flange, and the other edge flange of each panel being formed of an outwardly projecting U form, with its bight outward to provide a female flange for receiving a male flange; all of said panels sloping inwardly from bottom to top, to thereby form a rectangular shaped opening at the top of said tent; and a large area rectangular shaped, thin, stiff top panel covering said opening and having outwardly sloping edge flanges overlapping and secured to the upper edges of said intermediate panels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,638,668 8/1927 Volk 52--90 2,982,054 5/1961 Anderson 5282 3,333,376 8/1967 Marsters 5282 KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner. 

